Character-forming machine.



T. M. LILLEBERG. CHARACTER FORMING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED APR.26,191 1.

Patented May 28, 1912.

3 8HEETSBHEET 1.

T. M. LILLEBERG.

011mm FORMING MACHINE,

- APPLIOA FILED APB..26,1911. I 1,028,037. Patented May 28, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

T. M. LILLBBERG. CHARACTER FORMING MACHINE.

APPLICATION TILED APR.26,1911.

1,028,037,, Patented May 28, 1912.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

' specification. ,o My invention relates tocha'r'acterf produeas A, groug ofcharacter pro TIDEMA'N ixnnnnnnefor woons'roox, ILLINOIS.

.oHAaAorEn-ronirme Enema specilication or Letters Patent Patentci May 28, 1912."

To all whom it may concern; Be ,itknownthat I, mun M. BERG, citizen "of .the' United States; at Woodstock, in the-county of '5 and. State of Illinois,

residing McHenry scriptlon', reference being had to the accoml O machine's'and has for-"its general object ers I num haracter' forming elements may T2 be selectively associated compositefrou-ps {for the purpose; of; producing. selecte jacte'rsm provision ;of meanswherebyfa ke board i'jforiselecting the characterroducing ele'- nients-so that zthe machine 0% my invention --ma y partake of-the appearance of -a type-- ucin'g ele'ments from'. ones are selectively associated operated incomposite" groups certain whic and-iconjointly i j.- tfo,groduceselected characters, one combina 330 ti'on "of; certain of-thjese elements enabling I the-formation" of one character, another Qc'omhination of "certain gotthese elements ienabling the formation 'ofanother charae Q3181 eatedi' 1 thecohstruction off-the .apparatug ga indi In cnej'embodiinent of invention I ern- 2- anjinkedribbona ainst which selected character producing eernents are pressed,

tlnl sribbon in :turn b'ei'ng i'rngressed upon paper. In this wavqarinte 1 g does not so much concernl thenature 701 theproduced characters as. it does the niec'has' nism; by which the characters areproduced- .In the preferred embodiment .-of myim' Q have invented 'acar f tain new and; useful Improvement in Character-Forming Machinesfciwhichthe 01 v lowing is a full, clear; concise-,andexact de- .in guiding each other 'ing as ageneral guide for the free ends of are cooperatively related each selecting bar being suited to a character an in 'drawin' .formin --ap'artbif this P y g Y that is to beformed and I the "rovi'sionioi means-whereby restricted 15 wing: to the actuated selected bar. j' are provided for operatin bars, one key lever being in gselectingbar and each key lever being indi "vidual to a character that -My} invention has for a: tart-her object the W I will-explaln may-enter int-o thecontrol of the mec anism andinwhiche' ,Figurelpisfa view:- in sectional elevation of amachine-constructed.in accordancewith :one embodiment ,of the invention;.Fig. 2f'is ,a'sectional plan-view on -line 2 2 ofiFig l; y-Fig. 3 is a view on-an enlarged-scale of that writer in which the are replacedby "aand so; on,,5l'ependi'ng upon the nature of "theigselecting mechanism which enters into have fixed lin e s of travel; Flgl'fi illustrates some of thecharacters that-may be formed; illustrates the, upper end offone of characters; may be formed upontheopaper, but Ido not. limit my inventionto Tthe prihtirig' of char: acters upon thespaper sinceirny invention" occupying a atflone" end to an operating lever and proend through a throat,"

1 f these' lengths of wire being'each anchored- Lmnnjecting-- at 1 the 1 other ,the wires being converged where they pass through the throat whereby they cooperatethe throat in turn act-- the wires taken collectively. Selecting bars r constructed select1ve1y (Co-operate upon those levers that ar =:connected with those wires that will enable' the-.formation of the character correspond- Key levers theselectin ividual t0 eacli is to be formed.

y'invention more fully by reference to the'acc'ompanying drawings showing; the" preferred embodiment thereof through which the character formin wires ma .be projected and which confine t e free end s" of these ,wiresso. thatthese free ends thelevers howing a wire thattakes part inproducing' characters secured-to the: upper end of the, lever; and Fig. 8'is an edge view of the levier'as ita 1 Like arts are in (gears in'Fig. 7; f

the throatxpprtion 4 5. I-

cated' by similar char- &

ab. with the levers,- j

i which appears at-the' upper left handllpart of the machine shown in Fig.1; Fig.1; is a {sectional plan View on-line 4 4 of Fig. ,3;. .Fig. 5 is anend-view of The character" producing Wires 1; are de sirably squarein cross section, at' least at the free ends of the wires,though,I donot limit myself to anyparticular shapeofthe' wires. I have illustrated one hundred wires arranged in ten rows of tenwires-each and I square space at the free ends of ramidal fashion from their free front ends ately and are attached at their rear ends to operating levers 3. Each lever is connected at its upper end to but one wire and is adapted to be engaged atits lower end by a selecting bar to be later described, other bars also bein capable of engaging each wire actuating lever, all according to the design of the selecting bars and the nature of the characters that are to beiproduced by the machine. Each lever 3 is intermediivoted at 4 so. that the upper end thereo will move inwardly when thelower end is moved in the reverse direction by the operating bar. The upper ends of the levers are desirably distributed in three rows as indicated in Figs. 1, 3 and 4. The lower ends of the lever are desirably bifurcated, the levers in this respect being preferably similar throughout.- There are as many se lecting bars 5 as there are characters to be produced, each bar 5 being individual to a character. These bars are arranged in two groups as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the

are 'in the upper group terminating in loops through which the rows 6 of blfllfr cated lever members freely project so as to be outof operatingrange of the actuating selecting bars 5 of the upper set. The actuating selecting bars 5 of the upper set are adapted to engage the bifurcated members in the row 7 while the actuating bars of .the lower set are adapted to engage the bifurcated members in the row 6, the ac-' tuating bars in thelower set terminating in T-heads, as illustrated in Fig. 2, rather than in loops. The margins of the bars that en gage the bifurcated members in the rows 6 and 7 are provided with outsetting teeth- 8 located in alinement with the levers 3 which such bars are intended to actuate to assemble the free ends of the wires 1 in selected composite roups. Some of these teeth may engage ut one lever, some may engage two, others may engage three, and the teeth 8 upon the different actuating selecting bars are non-identical with the teeth upon reach of the other actuating selecting bars so that each bar is capable of selecting a peculiar composite group of levers, and through the agency of such levers is able to operate a peculiar composite group of character producing elements or wires 1. By bifurcating or branching the levers, it being understood that the bifurcated branches of each lever lie in the same plane, each of the levers may be operated by some actuating bar in eac group of actuating bars. Each bar 5 is individual to a toggle lever 9 toggle jointed at 10 and connected by means of a link 11 with the key lever 12 fulcrumed at 13 and carrying a key head.

14 which may be impinged upon by the operator when the character corresponding to the selected key 14: is to be produced. When a key is struck, its key lever 12 will be turned about its fulcrum in a counter clock wise direction whereby the toggle lever 9 is buckled and the actuating bar 5 is moved so that the teeth 8 upon such bar may engage the levers 3 in alinement with such teeth, whereby these selected levers are turned ina clockwise direction about their common fulcrum at 4, whereupon the wires 1 anchored to the upper ends of these levers are moved through the throat 2 to the exclusion of the companions to these. wires, whereby the selected character may be produced by the composite group of wires projected through the throat opening. 'In the embodiment of the invention illustrated, the end faces of the free ends of the wires- 1 are blunt so that they may be impinged against the inked ribbon 15 without penetrating this ribbon and may press the ribbon against a sheet of paper or tape for the purpose of making an ink impression of the selected character upon the paper. I do not wish to be limited, however, to'a. mechanism wherein the characters are produced by ink impressions upon paper. n

In Fig. 6 I have illustrated five characters H, I, L, M and 0, each printed upon'pa-per as a consequence of the operation of an actuating select-ing bar 5 lndividual to each of the characters, one actuating selecting bar indirectly-causing the formation of the char acter H, another actuating selecting bar indirectly causing the formation of the charorder that fresh ink surfaces may be pre- 1 sented to the printing ends of the character producing wires. The paper upon which the characters are to be printed may be passed about a platen roller 16 and this platen roller may be turned and shifted longitudinally of itself by mechanism well known to those skilled in the art of typewriter structures and which need not be specifically described, it sufiicing to say that the platen roller 16, as it appears in Fig. 1, is mounted upon a carriage 17 supported by means of its wheels 18 upon track bars 19 for the purpose of guiding the platen roller back and forth before the printing ends of the wires 1. When the invention is embodied in the construction illustrated, the size of the platen roller 16 may be enlarged as compared with the size commonly present in typewriters whereby advantages are afforded, among which is the greater ease with which cards may be passed through the machine.

Any suitable mechanism may be employed for withdrawing the actuated wires so that they may occupy their normal positions. I have illustrated a retractile spring 20 individual to each lever 3 for the purpose of holding such lever against a stop 21 in the form of a bar common to .all of the levers 3, the bars 5, when operating upon selected levers, working against the force of the springs 20 individual to such selected levers, these springs restoring the selected levers to normal positions when the key lever correspondin to the actuated bar is released. The springs 20 of the actuated levers'coiiperate with the springs 21 individual to the key bars in restoring the keys to their normal positions and in-bringing the toggle jointed levers 9 to rest against the stop 22 in the form of a bar common tosaid toggle levers.

As a detail of construction, the apertures 4: through the levers?) where the levers are fulcrumed are horizontally elongated on those sides of the levers 3 where the springs 20 are located so that' these levers may slightly shift on their fulcrum rod when the character producing wires have reached the limit of their travel before the actuating bars 5 have reached the limit of their travel,

the springs 20 yieldingly permitting these operations. In this way the printing pressure of the character producing wires 1 may be substantially uniform.v

In the s ecification and claims I gated character producing elements irrespective of their shapes in cross section and whether or not they are completely metallic.

t will beseen that I may employ a minimum number of character producing wires,

in forming a plurality of characters.

one hundred being shown by way of example but to which number I do not wish to be limited, each ofthe wires taking part It will also be seen that the character producing elements are constantly very closely associated with the space or place that receives the element upon which the characters are to be produced, very slight move ment of these character producing elements being sufficient to cause the production of the characters. In'this way a machine that is equipped in accordancewithz'r'ny invention I am aware that it is old to produce char-I acters by the various assembly of component have used the term wire in the broad sense of eloncharacter producing elements, these character producing elements being of a variety "of shapes and being arranged in a variety of ways. In practising my invention the character producing units present character forming faces of substantially uniform di mensions whereby the characters may be more uniformly produced and better spaced. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the ends of the wires themselves directly form the characters, the ends of these 'wires-hav'mg, as they do, character forming faces of substantially uniform dimensions.

Hitherto the wires .dicl not themselves di- I rectly form the characters but had attached to their .ends the variously disposed and non-uniform character producing elements.

I have herein shown and particularly de-' scribedmy invention as being embodied in a character printing or writing machine, but I do not desire to limit myself to a machine in which the composite wires of the different selected groups operate to print the characters, nor do I wish to be limited to the precise details of construc tion and arrangement shown since a variety of changes may be made in the embodiment of the invention illustrated Without-departing from the spirit of the invention.

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-the following I 1. Apparatus of theyclass Having thus described my invention I described ineluding a plurality of character, formin wires; individual ivoted levers connecte withsaid wires an angularlyrelated,there- 'toso as to be adapted to thrust thewires when the levers are operated; selecting bars angularly related to the levers and indi 'vidual to vdifferent groups of said levers;" J

and keys individual to the selecting bars and servingto effect the operation of the selecting bars to cause them to operate the groups of levers to which they are individselecting bars to cause themto operate the groups of levers to which they are indi -vidual whereby selected groups of wires are actuated to produce difierent characters, said levers having distinct branches between which the lever engaging portions of some of the selectingbars are received to engage certain of the lever branches, other actuating bars havin their lever engaging pormy name this 22nd day ofApril A. D., Igions Iwivitholzit tde spgegs between the levelr 1911. e

ranc es an a apte or-en a ement wit 1 lever branches companion to the lever TIDEMAN LILLEBERG' 5 branches engaged by the selecting bars that Witnesses:

are received between the lever branches. INGVALD OLSEN,

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe CHRIS CHRISTIANSON. 

